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What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852
Douglass’ message – about America celebrating freedom, justice and other liberties and its struggle to live up to the goals of our founding fathers – is still relevant today and clearly demonstrate the need for deep change.
Poignant Excerpts from Frederick Douglass’ Speech"What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?
…Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn…
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration – Time Magazine
Full Text of the Speech
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Racial Equity – It’s a Matter of Life or Death Join NPW for the last program of its back to workplace series. COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated the life-limiting and deadly impact of racism and racial inequity in health care, education, housing, the justice system, the workforce and other parts of society. Action on this issue can no longer wait. |
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Westchester Center for Racial Equity of the YWCA of White Plains & Central Westchester Earlier in the year and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, NPW and the YWCA of White Pains & Central Westchester announced the launch of a planning process to establish the Westchester Center for Racial Equity. Recognizing the importance of this initiative even prior to COVID, the Westchester County Board of Legislators added funding to support the planning of the Center in the 2020 budget and it was approved by County Executive Latimer.
The Center will advance a community-wide approach to the problem of racism and serve as a platform for Westchester to effectively respond to the documented need for nonprofit and for-profit businesses, policy-makers and government agencies, and educational institutions to advance racial equity and justice. The Center will be:
Please contact Jan Fisher at jfisher@npwestchester.org or (914) 439-0203 for further information. |
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